
SABBATH-SCHOOL LESSON QUARTERLY
7
2.
The gospel provision for mediation in behalf of man after
sin had entered into the world, did not require the introduction
of a new principle into the divine administration, but simply a
new application of a principle already in operation. "The re-
.striction of the thought of mediatorship and sacrifice to the gra-
cious intervention of the eternal Son on behalf of fallen and sin-
ful man, has narrowed and thrown out of proportion our thought
of the dignity and glory of the Son, and of the grandeur of His
work. Sin, of course, brings another element into worship and
sacrifice. Sin creates a gulf between the creature and God; and
only a mediator, a priest, can bring the creature back to God even
when it wills to be brought, or can make atonement and satisfac-
tion on its behalf for the injury and wrong done to the majesty
of the supreme Lawgiver by an act of disobedience. There is a
new need, that of expiation; and there is a greater, and to us a
more evident, need of a mediator.
"But the standing truth, that from the first instant of crea-
tion there has been a Mediator between the Father and creation,
One through whom, necessarily, creation came into being, renders
it easier for us to apprehend alike the necessity, and (such is
the love of God) the probability, of an atoning Mediator who
should undo the mischief of sin; and, this being so, the impossi-
bility that it can be any other than the uncreated Mediator,
through whom and for whom were all things made, the eternal
Son."—"
The One Mediator," P. G. Medd, M.A., London, 1884,
page
69.
3.
It was through the mediation of the Son of God that all
things were brought into existence, and it is through the same
mediation that all things are upheld. Heb. 1:3. The Son was
and is the Mediator (in this larger sense) for all unfallen beings,
through whom they were created and through whom they are
sustained in life. He was the Mediator for the human family
before sin entered into the world; and in order to carry on this
mediation in behalf of man and restore him to fellowship with
God, it was necessary that the Son should take' the flesh (Heb.
2:14, 15), and thus He became the Man Christ Jesus, the Mediator
between God and sinful man. Thus He who was the Mediator in
the original creation, is the Mediator in the new creation; and
the fact of the original creation is the promise of the new crea-
tion.
The full truth concerning the mediation of Christ, precludes
the possibility of there being any other mediator between God
and man, as He only can mediate in the new creation who was' the
Mediator in the original creation. No created being can act as
mediator for sin, and this shuts out the whole mediatorial system
of the papacy.